


The Last Game

by MaevesChild



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-30
Updated: 2015-09-30
Packaged: 2018-04-24 02:22:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4901896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaevesChild/pseuds/MaevesChild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by the Easter Egg in Crestwood.  Tucked behind a house in a little nook there is a skeleton, a wheel of cheese and a deck of cards.</p>
<p>How exactly did that happen?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Last Game

He was waiting.  

It wasn't supposed to be long before she was going to meet him and then they would finally be free to run away like they always planned.

He loved her.  Her father hated him.  It was the same old story everyone had told a thousand times.  No one was ever good enough for a man's little girl, after all.

He didn't bring much, just some food in a sack and the clothes on his back.  It was going to be a new life.  He didn't want to bring anything that reminded him of this place.  Crestwood was fine, but they were never going to be happy here.  They were going to run away to the Orlesian countryside where no one knew them and they were going  to start over and they were going to be so happy.  So happy.  

No one had ever felt like this before, he was sure of it.

The sun was starting to get low in the sky, the clouds tinted orange and pink where he could see them peeking over the roof.  He leaned back against the stone wall behind the house, here in their favorite meeting spot.  No one had ever found it.  He had to climb through the bushes and slide down into the narrow valley between the house and the wall, where not enough sun ever reached for grass to grow so the ground was covered only in soft, pale green moss.

They made love here the first time.  And many times since.  Maybe once she got here, they would one last time, just to remember where it all began.  His stomach rumbled.  It got a little darker.

He sat down on the ground and rummaged through his bag.  He packed her favorite, that soft yellow cheese the miller's wife made that she loved.  He'd heard they had all sorts of fancy cheese in Orlais.  He was going to miss one this a little anyway.  Maybe.  He tried not to think about it.

She was late now.  Probably waiting to sneak away.  It happened all the time.

He snapped off a piece of cheese and chewed thoughtfully.  He reached for the bag to put it away again and a card fluttered out.  A single playing card.  

He didn't remember putting that in there.

He picked it up off the ground.  Not a playing card.  A tarot card, like those traveling Orlesian players used to read fortunes last summer. That's when they got the idea.  That's when they started planning.  

The back of the card was painted black, with an eye...or was that a sun?  It was pierced by a sword.  It looked a little familiar, like something he thought he saw at the Chantry when they visited Denerim when he was a little boy.  He couldn't remember what it was.  

He flipped the card over.  On the face there was a painting; a portrait. It was an elf in a hooded robe, his distinctive ears poking out each side of his head.  He had a staff and a flame flickered in the palm of his hand, so carefully rendered it almost looked like it was actually moving.  The elf had kind eyes, but it made him feel uneasy.  He set the card down on the moss and reached back into the bag.

There was a small stack of cards, not enough for a deck, but just enough to spread them out in a pattern.  How had that fortune teller done that again?

Right.  First card in the middle.  It was the source of the question.  That was it.

He set the elf in the middle and took the second card.  That one went over the first one.   That was was the challenge.  The thing that went wrong.

The next card frightened him.  A man?  If he could call it that.  Grey skin and glowing red eyes and too many hands.  His face was intent and his heart glowed between exposed ribs.  He'd laid the card across the elf.

The next card was the long ago past if he was remembering right.  It went to the right of the first two.  It was red; a young man with a floppy hat and what? A dagger?  He stood straddling a precipice, one foot on each side.  He wondered what that might mean.  The red paint seemed transparent almost, like it wasn't completely real.  

The next card, underneath.  He remembered.  Recent events.  What made this begin.  The last moment before the questions began.  He flipped the card over.  A woman; a knight.  Fierce and determined in black armor.  She was holding a flag with an eye emblazoned on it.  Sort of like on the back.  Hm.  

He sighed.  Craned his neck up.  There was still plenty of light, but it was getting late.  Where was his love?  He heard people milling about on the street, the vendors selling the last of their wares after dinner, getting ready to pack up for the night.  Maybe she was waiting until there were less people about?  That made sense.

He took another card from the deck and flipped it over.  This one would go on the left side.  The future.  The next step.  

Another man.  Another mage, it seemed.  Dark hair and wide curling moustache.  He held a symbol in his right hand.  This one he recognized.  Ouroboros.  Eternity.  That could be a good sign; someone who kept trying, even when things seemed impossible.  That's what he was doing, waiting here, after all.  They were going to keep trying, no matter what.  

He smiled.

He flipped another card.  This one went on top.  The best outcome.  A beautiful woman, this card, with a large black bird on her shoulder inside a frame that looked like the sun.  She looked as determined as the lady knight did, but there was a soft, almost idealistic expression on her face.  She had beautiful red hair.  Just like his love did, at least when the sun hit it just right.  

He smiled wider.  It was fate.  It had to be.  That's where these cards came from.

The next card.  These went to the right in a line.  This was the path.  This was the important things to come. The first one was your heart, the fortune teller said.  It was funny how he could remember it so clearly.  But that was the night, after all.  The one where they finally held each other and proclaimed their true, undying love.  He asked her to marry him.  She said yes.

It was another elf.  A woman with a bow, painted in all bright colors, staring off into the future.  Adventure; their new adventure together.  Had to be.  His heart.  He made a happy little sound

He flipped over the next card quickly.  What was around you, what influenced you was what this one meant.  This card had a bearded man with a shield.  The corner of the card was bent over and there was a crease through the middle.  He grunted.  Probably his love's father.  So stoic.  So unyielding, but damaged, just like the card.  He sneered at it.

Hopes and fears was next.  He took a deep breath before he turned the card over.  Huh.  A qunari.  Well, that was pretty scary.  He held a skull in one hand.  Maker only knew what that was supposed to mean.

The next card was the last one.  The final outcome.  He remembered there being a lover's card, with a beautiful young couple on it, embracing.  He was positive that's what he would find.  He was so positive that the card startled him when he flipped it over.

No portrait.  Not a person at all.  

Just a hand, so brightly green it was almost glowing.  If he didn't know better, he would have thought it was glowing with actual light.  But that was crazy.  Probably just the weird glow of twilight that had crept around him.

He looked up at the sky.  It was a grey, or maybe violet.  Almost nightfall now.

Where was she?

He leaned back against the wall.  This didn't help him at all, did it?  Didn't do him any could if he couldn't figure out what it meant.  He cocked his head, studying the cards.  His eyes felt heavy.  Maybe he would just take a little rest while he waited.  They were going to try to get as far away as they could tonight, so no one knew where to even start looking for them tomorrow when her father realized they were missing.  Might as well rest while he could.

He drifted a little, imagining her.  She had the prettiest brown eyes, like the glossy skin of an acorn and a curvy little body, like the sweet plumpness of that same acorn.  He chuckled.

He felt a little rumble, the earth shifting underneath him and heard a crackle like distant thunder.  He wondered if it might rain.  That might even be a little romantic, if it wasn't too cold.  He saw light through his eyelids, just a little flash, green like the hand on the card.  He opened his eyes.  His heart thumped.  

By Andraste, was that card actually glowing?  

No, it was dark down where the card still lay.  But everything seemed bathed in a weird green tint.  He looked up and even the clouds seemed a little sickly, almost like the way the sky looked before a terrible storm.  There were the first stars peeking out between them.  The clouds had shifted, thinned.  They were only wisps now.  Not storm clouds.  Then what was making that light?

He craned his head back, to get a better look at the sky.  He heard shuffling behind him.  Footsteps.  Was that her?  Quickly, he got to his feet and turned around, the leaves on the bushes quaking as something moved between them.

"My love," he said, a smile spreading across his face.  He leaned up, his hands on the top of the wall, hoping for a kiss.

He didn't have time to even raise his hands when the shambling horror appeared between the branches and put a sword through his chest.

He tried to scream, but he couldn't get any air.  He heard more shuffling.  Then, a long piercing scream shattered the silence.  He tried to move, tried to call out.  A chorus of voices then.  Screaming.  Terrified.  He croaked out a single, painful word.  

"Love?"  

No one heard him.

He crumpled back against the wall of the house, sliding down to the ground.  He felt cold.  So cold.  It didn't really hurt, even though he was bleeding.  There was a lot of blood.

He closed his eyes again.  He couldn't help it.  It was okay.  She'd be there any minute now.  Of course she would.  

She promised.


End file.
